Joe knows that getting "the people stuff" right is always Job Title Email List critical - especially so in an environment where the margin for error is somewhere south of zero. So he works hard at staying close to his people and ensuring that they, in turn, stay close to theirs. In a recent meeting with his senior staff, Joe taught a principle that's Job Title Email List pertinent to any leader in any venue. He used a parable, sort of a modern version Job Title Email List of one of Aesop's fables. Here's the story that Joe told his people.
A farmer who had been losing money year after year went to a Job Title Email List banker. He asked for a loan to keep the farm open for another year. The banker reluctantly agreed, saying "I can no longer afford to lose money on you. Either you show a profit this year or we will repossess the farm." Upon Job Title Email List leaving the bank with a new loan, the farmer was confronted by a panhandler who asked the farmer if he needed help. The farmer said he needed a lot of luck to get through the coming year. The panhandler offered the farmer a lucky stone for a small Job Title Email List price, payable at the end of the year.
The panhandler said the payment was required only if the farm did indeed Job Title Email List turn a profit. The farmer, seeing that he couldn't lose, asked for the conditions of the agreement. The panhandler said the stone is effective only if the farmer walked his property every day with the stone in his pocket. The farmer, willing to try Job Title Email List anything, took the stone and went home. The next morning, the farmer walked his fence line and realized that ten of his cattle had wandered through a broken fence. He rounded up the cattle, herded them back into the Job Title Email List field, and repaired the fence.